Assessment of Soil Liquefaction Potential in Kamra, Pakistan

Mahmood Ahmad, Xiao-Wei Tang, Feezan Ahmad and Arshad Jamal
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Mahmood Ahmad: State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Xiao-Wei Tang: State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Feezan Ahmad: China–Pakistan Economic Corridor Project, LIMAK-JV-ZKB, Pindigheb, Attock 43260, Pakistan
Arshad Jamal: Department of Civil Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: In seismically active regions, soil liquefaction is a serious geotechnical engineering problem that mainly occurs in saturated granular soils with a shallow groundwater table. Significant seismic hazards are present in Kamra, Pakistan. With the rapid increase in construction in recent years, the evaluation of liquefaction is now considered to be more important for land use planning and development. The intent of this study is to highlight soil liquefaction susceptibility that will eventually support the national authorities in developing guidelines for sustainable development and the mitigation of liquefaction. The typical subsoil profile of Kamra consists of silty gravel (GM) overlain by silty sand (SM), poorly graded sand (SP), and fill layers. Kamra is close to the active Ranja–Khairabad fault with a peak ground acceleration of 0.24 g . The river Sehat and the Ghazi Brotha canal pass through the study area. In this study, the soil liquefaction potential in Kamra was assessed at 10 different sites (50 boreholes) by using a stress-based procedure for calculating the factor of safety against soil liquefaction. The results revealed that the middle layers, i.e., poorly graded sand and silty sand in the subsoil profile, are extremely susceptible to liquefaction during earthquakes with magnitudes between 7.5 and 8.0 in Kamra. The correlation between the factor of safety and the equivalent clean-sand-corrected standard penetration test (SPT) blow counts according to the earthquake magnitudes was developed and can also be utilized for areas adjoining Kamra that have the same subsoil profile.

Keywords: soil liquefaction; saturated granular soils; factor of safety; groundwater table and peak ground acceleration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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